Remy St. Martin gathered the escadrille in the briefing room. A courier had just delivered an important mission to be flown immediately but it would wait a minute.
Remy, standing in front of the young French pilots, calmly spoke, “Captain Jerome will be away for some time. While he is away, he has handed down command to me.”
The silence was broken with muffled comments between many of those attending. A laugh, a thanks to God, an its about time, some sighs of relief.
Remy loudly cleared his throat to regain their attention. “Captain Jerome will return and expect that you have done the escadrille proud in his absence”.
“In the meantime, we have a war to fight! Sit tight for a minute while I read the dispatch.
Remy quickly opened the dispatch. He read the mission wheres and whys to the escadrille. He looked it over closely and compared it to his list of postings for the morning’s flight schedule. “Good, no conflicts that can’t be solved”, he thought.
He wouldn’t have to make any changes to the roster of the day’s missions he had earlier tacked to the board.
“Scout crews, your assignments are posted on the board, except for Claude, please stay with me. Tandem crews, today HQ honors you with this request,” he said with a smirk.
Remy went into the details of the of the mission with those involved. A section of the line had been mined. The detonations left several large craters and the control of the lines was a mess. Positions of friend and foe were not known so photos of the current situation were desperately needed by HQ.
“Claude, you did yourself proud in rescuing the scientist off of that sand bar. I know you are a chasse pilot at heart but today we are short of a tandem flyer. If you prefer not to fly this mission I should be able to do it so you can fly your Bebe”.
“Ah Remy, I would be honored to take part in this mission. Flying the Caudron will be like riding the Swan Boat at Versailles compared to the Bebe in a dogfight”.
Remy laughed, “Don’t worry Claude, we’ll get you back in your beloved Bebe tomorrow”.
It was a clear and calm sky when the trio of two-seaters lifted off the ground. Claude sat behind his observer Louis Faure in the Caudron nacel. To their right were Jacques Rosseau piloting with Hevré Soucy manning the gun in a black nosed Morane-Saulnier P. To their right in a similar yellow nosed MS, Leo Monet piloted with Oscar Tasse observing.
In the newer, sturdier Albatros C.III Hans Steinhäuser felt he deserved the upgrade from the older Rumpler C.Is that Reinhold Schäfer(grey/blue) and Rudolf Muszler(cdl) would be piloting. Their respective observers, Gottfried Esswein, Kaspar Glochner and Dieter Rosenfeldt cared less about which plane they were in.
Claude could see three dots on the horizon slowly growing, EA approaching. He signaled Jacques and the changed positions so the two escorts would be between Claude and the incoming Hun.
The Hun seemed to be on the same program.
Reinhold signaled to Rudolf, he would go for the larger French craft while Rudolf should escort Hans.
Leo, not looking back took straight towards the German pair. Jacques turned and followed Leo not thinking about the Rumpler heading towards Claude.
As Hans lowers his plane to the best altitude for photographs the crater below erupts with gunfire. Several machine gun rounds strike the engine and cause it to sputter. Hans now curses the Albatross for it’s frailty.
Leo, turns towards the Hun escort and puts a few well aimed rounds into the German. As they pass the Hun catches Jacques flying towards the Albatros and damages his engine.
Jacques, ignoring the incoming rounds stays the course on the Albatros and pulls his trigger. The Albatros bursts in flames.
Adding insult to injury, groundfire puts a few more holes into the canvas.
As Claude drops down to take a photograph the grey Rumpler drops down with him and shoots into his flank. Groundfire also comes up to greet him.
As the Rumpler flies past Claude readied to take his photograph. Groundfire continues to spray upwards and catch both planes. Several large holes appear in the starboard wing of the Caudron but the Rumpler catches the brunt of the fire and spins out of control.
Directly over the grater the camera makes a click that no one can hear. The machine guns on the ground have a difficult time firing straight up and miss the Caudron this time.
Jacques is slow in turning to follow the Albatross. To his dismay both the Albatros and Rumpler rear gunners shoot at him. He weaves and dodges about and luckily no rounds find the Morane.
Jacques gunner Hevré fires into a swirl of smoke and clips the unseen observer.
Oscar uses his sharp eye and sets the smoking Rumpler on fire.
The fire is not kind to the Albatros.
Jacque’s sputtering engine prevents him from getting his guns to bear but the Albatros gunner lets him know he is seen. Several new holes festoon the Morane.
Gottfried keeps firing and doesn’t notice his rounds falling short while Hans guides the burning Albatros towards another target.
Claude climbs out of range above the crater. He looks around and spots another crater, his next target. He turns the smooth slow Caudron to the left to line up another photo run.
The fires kick up and eat away large swathes of canvas.
Rudolf knows the fire is too dangerous and must head home…if he can make it.
Hans also has a deadly fire burning. One last photo on the way home…if God allows.
Leo has to make a decision. One burning German is heading towards Claude, another towards him. He decides to help Claude and turns left after the cdl Hun.
Jacques nurses his badly sputtering engine home to his observer, Hevré’s relief.
As Hans lowers for a photo the troops below notice. They send up a wall of lead and take down the Albatros.
Claude has to forget about his photo run as a Hun approaches.
“What the hell is he doing”? Claude shouts to Louis.
He turns so Louis can get off a shot.
Whether or not Louis’ shot hit home, the Rumpler starts to spin towards the ground.
Claude watched the Hun fall a little too long. Looking up his eyes nearly pop out of his head as Leo is right in front of him.
By luck they pass by each other without an incident.
Leo turns to escort Claude to the next target. As Claude drops for the photo the muddy boys below give him a welcome.
The boys on the ground set up a few more machine guns. As the Caudron slows over the crater Claude reaches for the camera.
The boys on the ground watch the stream of tracers arching skywards. The French airplane seems to stop and hang in the air. A big cheer went up with it all “Ending with a BANG’!
Leo and Oscar don’t want to believe their eyes. The Caudron’s upper wings detach from the rest of the plane along with the port engine. It flops and flutters like a leave until it hits the ground 100 yards from the crater.
Louis is badly stunned by the impact. By the time the Hun troopers reach the crash site Louis has pulled the limp body of Claude from the wreckage.
Louis is sent to the hospital alone.
Butcher’s Bill
Kaiser’s Eagles
Ltn. Reinhold Schäfer EXP 0 Kills
C 9 -3(exp) = 6 injured, 3 = miss 2 missions
Ltn. Kaspar Glochner EXP 0 Kills
C 5 -3(exp) = 2 KIA
ObLtn. Hans Steinhäuser SD (FLM) ET 0 Kills
C 9 -2(flm) = 7 injured, 5 miss 2 missions
E -1(flm) -1(wic) -1(bel) = 4 captured but escapes, 6 = miss 3 missions
Ltn. Gottfried Esswein SD (FLM) ET 0 Kills
C 12 -2(flm) = 10 ok
E 8 -1(flm) -1(bel) = 6 in hiding, 3 = miss 1 mission
Ltn. Rudolf Mulzer FLM 0 Kills
C 10 -2(flm) = 8 injured, 3 = miss 1 mission
Ltn. Dieter Rosenfeldt FLM WIA 0 Kills
C 10 -2(flm) = 8 injured, 3 = miss 1 mission
Bouledogues de la Republique
S/Lt. Claude Lefevre EXP ET 0 Kills
C 2 -3(exp) = -1 KIA
Cpl Louis Faure EXP ET 0 Kills
C 6 -3(exp) = 3 injured, 3 = miss 3 missions
E 56 -1(exp) -1(bel) -1(wic) = 2, Captured
S/Lt. Jacques Rosseau FRTB 0 Kills
Cpl. Hevré Soucy FRTB 0 Kills
Lt. Leo Monet RTB 0 Kills
Cpl. Oscar Tasse RTB 0 Kills
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